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Dodger Stadium gets ready for some hockey

By Elliott Teaford, Los Angeles News Group

Posted:
01/14/2014 06:18:28 AM MST

They stood under a searing California sun, in a ballpark, promoting an outdoor hockey game.

It didn't take long for Wayne Gretzky's neck and face to turn to ever brighter shades of pink Monday. The same went for Luc Robitaille and Bruce Boudreau. They wore dark suits, a poor choice on an 80-degree afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

As the Great One spoke in front of a horde of reporters, and the Kings' executive and the Ducks' coach talked about the Jan. 25 game, the sounds of construction filled the iconic baseball stadium. Workers lugged bits and pieces of the hockey rink into place.

One goal will be located near first base and the other close to third, with the center faceoff circle just north of the pitcher's mound. Once the actual rink, boards and glass are set into place, then NHL ice guru Dan Craig will begin working his magic.

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The Kings and Ducks will play hockey on the night of Jan. 25, the first outdoor game in Southern California. It's been something of a rumor for months now, but with the arrival of Craig, his crew and the NHL's Ice Truck this week, things began to take shape.

Gretzky, the man most responsible for the growth of hockey in Southern California after his trade to the Kings from the Edmonton Oilers 25 years ago, recalled his roots as a player began outdoors. It was a lot colder in his youth in Brantford, Ontario, than for kids in Ontario, Calif.

But he's noticed the passion for the game isn't a whole lot different.

“My first year I was in L.A., we were living in the Valley and we used to go by this set of tennis courts,” Gretzky said. “I remember we were stopped at a light and I said to my wife (Janet), 'You know, back home, kids would be playing in-line hockey or ball hockey on these tennis courts.'

“We didn't think much of it and two years later, I went by the same tennis courts and there was a sign that said, 'No ball hockey allowed.' So, I remember thinking, 'Wow, we've come a long way.' I think that was most important in growing the sport because then parents will watch their kids play.

“Then they'll want to go to NHL games, and then it'll get going.”

It's been a long trek from lightly attended games at the Forum before Gretzky's arrival in the summer of 1988, but Stanley Cup championship victories for the Ducks in 2007 and the Kings in 2012 certainly stoked the fires of young and old and led to the NHL placing an outdoor game in L.A.

Surveying the activity going on at Dodger Stadium, Gretzky smiled when someone asked if he would take a turn or two around the rink once it's completed and the ice-making operation is finished. There won't be an alumni game between the Kings and the Ducks, but Gretzky said he might still skate.

“I don't skate very much any more,” said Gretzky, who turns 53 on Jan. 26 and has been retired from the NHL since 1999. “I'll probably come down with a couple of my kids and a couple of my buddies and probably sneak in. I'd love to.”

Gretzky and Robitaille played in an outdoor exhibition game for the Kings against the New York Rangers on a rink set up in the parking lot of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 1991. The ice held strong despite temperatures in the 80s and a swarm of bugs that plagued the players late in the game.

“We loved it in Vegas,” said a chuckling Robitaille, now the Kings' president of business operations. “We're going to play outdoors? It was certainly something we were looking forward to. There was such a vibe in the air. There were 10,000 seats and every one of them was filled up.”

The NHL expects all 55,000 seats to be filled at Dodger Stadium, with hardcore fans drawn to see the rival Kings and Ducks, and others attending to simply witness the spectacle of hockey played in the middle of a ballpark on a (relatively) warm January evening in Los Angeles.

“This is going to be quite an event,” said Boudreau, who coached the Washington Capitals during the Jan. 1, 2011, Outdoor Classic against the Penguins at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field, home of the NFL's Steelers. “That's why this is going to be so great. We'll be pretty excited to play this game.”

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